Reneé Everett

NEARLY 1.8 MILLION CALLS ABANDONED ON SAPS 10111 EMERGENCY LINE – SAPS recorded a staggering 1,790,428 abandoned calls to its 10111 emergency number during the 2025/26 financial year, raising serious questions about the public’s ability to access police assistance during emergencies. The figures were revealed in a written parliamentary reply to MP Ian Cameron by the Acting Minister of Police. According to the response, the national call abandonment rate is approximately 20%. The Acting Minister also acknowledged that staffing at 10111 call centres is “severely inadequate”, with significant numbers of emergency calls going unanswered. The figures include calls abandoned by people after excessive waiting times, as well as calls dropped by the system. They represent calls rather than individual callers, but highlight the scale of the problem facing the police emergency call service. The Maitland call centre recorded 377,121 abandoned calls during the financial year, while Port Shepstone recorded 103,976 abandoned calls. The latter figure represents approximately 56.4% of all calls received at that centre. Cameron says the figures expose a serious failure in access to emergency police assistance. He argues that when someone calls the police during an attack, robbery or life-threatening situation, getting through to an operator is the first and most critical step towards receiving help. The parliamentary reply also raises concerns about management, monitoring and accountability within the 10111 system. SAPS reportedly could not provide an accurate ratio of operators to incoming calls without manually extracting staffing information for each shift. The response further acknowledges limitations in the systems used to monitor accountability for missed or mishandled emergency calls. SAPS has also identified hoax calls, nuisance complaints and general enquiries as factors placing additional pressure on operators and consuming limited capacity. Cameron says these challenges require urgent intervention, including adequate staffing, improved technology, effective supervision and better management of non-emergency calls. He is calling on the Acting Minister of Police and the National Commissioner to produce a comprehensive emergency response recovery plan. The proposed plan must address: Staffing shortages at every 10111 call centre, with clear deadlines for filling vacancies. Technical failures contributing to dropped calls and the steps needed to resolve them. Measurable targets to reduce abandoned calls and excessive waiting times. Measures to manage hoax calls and non-emergency enquiries without compromising genuine emergencies. Monthly performance reports and accountability for substantiated failures to handle emergency calls. Cameron says the operators working under difficult circumstances need proper support, but SAPS leadership must take responsibility for the staffing, technology and management failures acknowledged in its own parliamentary response. He wants clear timelines and measurable commitments to ensure that members of the public can reliably reach the police when they need urgent assistance. The figures raise a fundamental public safety concern: How many people who urgently needed police assistance were unable to get through to 10111? @IanCameron23